If there’s one kind of male that gets Barack Obama extremely jazzed up, it is a baby-faced white man who believes he can flip a Senate seat in Texas blue.
When Beto O’Rourke, then a ‘rising star‘ of the Democratic Party, lost his Senate race to incumbent Ted Cruz in 2018, Obama still believed he was the future — that is, 2020 presidential material. Perhaps it was because the former president saw in Beto a self-aggrandizing, narcissistic personality not unlike his own. After the loss, he called Beto an “impressive young man” and compared him to … himself. ObamaWorld was equally as smitten. (Subscribe to MR. RIGHT, a free weekly newsletter about modern masculinity)
“What I liked most about [O’Rourke’s] race was that it didn’t feel constantly poll-tested,” Obama said at the time. “It felt as if he based his statements and his positions on what he believed. And that, you’d like to think, is normally how things work. Sadly it’s not … The reason I was able to make a connection with a sizeable portion of the country was because people had a sense that I said what I meant. And that’s a quality that, as I look at what I’m sure will be a strong field of candidates in 2020.”
O’Rourke has since crashed out. Once the darling of liberal media, his influence within the party has waned. He lost his bid for Texas governor in 2022 to Greg Abbott by nearly 1 million votes. Although he has found a new career running the Soros-backed Powered by People PAC, his chances at ever holding political office again are slim to none. He certainly never lived up to the absurd RFK and JFK comparisons.In his early assessment of Beto, Obama was wrong. But not to worry. The media has long moved on from Beto, and so has Obama. The former president now has his eyes on a new man with aspirations to flip Texas blue.
Beto 2.0?
James Talarico, a little-known 36-year-old Texas state lawmaker, sat down with Joe Rogan for a podcast in July. At one point in their conversation, Rogan told him that he must run for president someday.
“We need someone that’s actually a good person,” Rogan said.
Liberal outlet Politico was googly-eyed and later interviewed Talarico, noting that he was an aspiring preacher who had a large TikTok fanbase. In other words, he might be the perfect Democratic candidate who could win over rural conservative Christians and flip a Senate seat held by Republicans since 1990. Social media clout? Check. A Christian? Check. A Christian who believes God is “non-binary“? Oh baby. Talarico is running for four-term incumbent John Cornyn’s Senate seat in 2026.
Lo and behold, Obama has leaped onto the media’s bandwagon, as he did with Beto. In a podcast interview published Monday, Obama came very close to announcing a full-on bromance with Talarico. The praise was also strikingly similar to his Beto endorsement as he argued that Talarico is a man of conviction and moral compass who believes in what he is preaching.
“He’s terrific, a really talented young man,” Obama said.
Obama went on to say, “First of all, if you understand your convictions, you’ve got a moral compass, you’ve got a code, you’ve spent time wrestling with what it is that you care about and what you believe, then it’s a lot easier now to be open and actually listen to other people as opposed to constantly trying to beat off anybody who might contradict your current perspective. And I think a guy like [Talarico], his starting point is, let me say what I believe.”
Surprisingly, the former president stopped short of comparing Talarico to himself.
Talarico may end up squaring off against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has launched a primary challenge, rather than Cornyn. Although he is a dream candidate for coastal progressives, Talarico’s views on God, sexuality, and transgender athletes may come back to haunt him.
In a 2021 hearing, Talarico said that “modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes. In fact, there are six.” He also opposed popular Texas legislation that restricted biological men competing in girl’s sports. “Some things are more important than perfectly fair competition in sports,” he argued during debate on the bill.
These views may fly in Austin, with its population of California transplants, but not rural Texas.
The Obama Curse?
Obama has a rather poor history when it comes to endorsing major candidates. Famously, he snubbed his vice president, Joe Biden, in 2016, endorsing Hillary Clinton instead. When it came time to endorse Biden in 2020, Obama held out for as long as possible, and didn’t announce until after Bernie Sanders threw in the towel and endorsed Biden. He endorsed Kamala Harris (not that he had a choice), but his support and rally appearances did not seem to have much of an effect. And, of course, Obama was a Beto backer in 2018.
Talarico may get lucky if Paxton defeats Cornyn in the primary. Paxton has a fair share of baggage — enough, in my view, to sway moderate Republicans and independents. But if Talarico manages to escape the Obama curse and see his star rise to Washington, D.C., it won’t be because of Obama’s endorsement — it will be in spite of it.
These days, Obama does not have as much sway within the Democratic Party as he did in years past. Starved for attention and longing for the time when he was the unequivocal leader, Obama keeps stepping into the limelight to remain relevant. It’s a “humiliation ritual.” He should get out before it gets worse. (RELATED: Barack Obama’s Humiliation Ritual Keeps Getting Worse)
Maybe Obama can take up painting in retirement, like his predecessor, George W. Bush. Instead of painting soldiers with PTSD, he can paint portraits of himself.
